Hope Can be a Struggle

Hope is around every corner. If we open our hearts to a hopeful perspective, it can be found. Hope has the power to change the world. But there are other forces in the world and they can have a death grip once they get a hold of us. Disappointment, humiliation, confusion, overwhelming panic and negative scripts can feel like a yoke that is holding you back or down. Hope isn’t an elixir, magic bullet or a cure all but rather a tendency. It isn’t a trick to use to get your way. It doesn’t offer a free cure to the blues or depression but if we practice hope and lean towards it, even when it feels foolish, it will lift us and keep us afloat. The more practice, the higher we can rise.

I suffer from bipolar disorder. Most days my alternative concoction of St John’s Wort and Vitamin D keep the cycles manageable. Occasionally, I can feel the air being sucked out of my body and I need to become more active in my quest for hope or I can soon find myself with a blanket of isolation over my head and disturbing thoughts racing through my head.

Knowing hope is around the corner is both comforting and encouraging. Today I am on a quest to observe and embrace hope.